Wilderness - 13/08/09

My cousin is relatively new to fishing so after agreeing to take him and his friend fishing for the afternoon we decided Wilderness was our best bet because of it being a relatively easy water. The forecast was a scorcher with temperatures in excess of 70 and not a cloud in the sky. After a quick license quick from the bailiff we made our way to the main lake and decided to fish the bay because there was ample room for all three of us.

I started the day fishing sweetcorn on the float and on the first cast was rewarded with a small Rudd, it may of only weighed 4 ounces but what it lacked in size it more than made up for with it's beautiful golden colour and bright crimson fins.

It wasn't long before the Carp moved into my swim and within 20 minutes of the first cast I landed my first of the day, a small Common of about 2lbs. At that point I decided to go all in and put out several handfuls of halibut pellets and left over method mix from my previous trip to Readers to see if I could get a feeding frenzy going. Sure enough the Carp responded and at one point I could see at least twenty Carp tails in the shallow water as they got their heads down to munch on all the feed I had put in.

After my fifth Carp and a sun induced migraine rapidly developing I decided to reel in my rod and concentrate on helping my cousin and his friend by showing them how to tie different rigs and letting them fish my swim that I had been feeding heavily throughout the afternoon.

We fished on until 18:00 with both of them managing to land several more Carp as the day went on, I finished the day with five small Carp up to 2.5lbs, a solitary Rudd and an absolutely shocking headache.

Sussex Ouse Goldbridge Stretch - 10/08/09

It must be at least five years since I last fished a river and with me being a member of Haywards Heath this year I really had no excuses for not having a crack at the Ouse.

After a 20 minute car journey I arrived at Goldbridge and unpacked my gear, after a quick and cautious vault over a low barbed wire fence I was standing next to the river.

According to the guys in the tackle shop this stretch is rarely fished so it was a bit of a shock to see two other guys fishing, after a quick natter with one of the anglers who revealed himself to be the club secretary I made my way upstream to a slow bend in the river complete with overhanging tree and patches of streamer weed, a perfect haunt for the greedy Chub.

I set up my Korum Neoteric with the intention of trotting maggots and breadflake under a small chubber float and the first run through the swim rewarded me with a small Perch of about 5 ounces on double red maggot. It was literally a Perch or Roach a chuck for the first hour but nothing of any size so with that in mind I decided to take a wander upstream to the faster water.

Throughout the rest of the day I caught more Roach and Perch on maggot and also managed to induce a few savage bites on breadflake but I was unable to hit any of them because of poor line control on my part, the disadvantage of not owning a centrepin reel.

Readers Lake - 05/08/09

After my recent mixed bag at Readers two days previously I wanted more and despite the weather forecast predicting overcast conditions and possible showers I still fancied my chances of having a decent day.

I arrived at the lake at 08:00 to find there were already four anglers on the lake but thankfully for me the swim I had fished two days before was still free, I set up exactly as I had done previously (method feeder) and with a gentle underarm lob dropped my treble sweetcorn bait inches from the island.

After my previous visit I was half expecting the action to be instant but sadly it wasn't to be as I had to wait two hours for my first bite as a Carp hooked itself against the weighty feeder and wrapped the quiver tip right round. Unfortunately for me I was busy re-working my method mix groundbait and before I could get to the rod the Carp had taken enough line to get into the reeds that adorned the island, after a couple of minutes of me applying pressure the hook pulled and the fish was gone.

I had to wait a further two hours for my next bite but this time I made no mistake and after a spirited scrap I slipped the net under a pristine 5lb Common Carp whilst two children who were fishing with their dad in the next swim looked on.

With the predicted afternoon showers increasing and bites few and far between I decided to call it a day at 16:00 and made the short walk back to the car park. A quick natter to a few anglers on the way confirmed what I suspected that the lake wasn't fishing well as most had blanked or managed just a couple of fish.

Readers Lake - 03/08/09

After my recent success with the method feeder at Imberhorne the temptation to try the same tactics at Readers was too much to resist. I had originally planned to be at the lake by 07:00 but as usual I struggled to get organised and it was closer to 08:00 by the time I unlocked the gate and drove into the car park. Being a weekday I was half expecting to have the lake to myself so it was a bit of a shock to see at least a dozen anglers already packed out around the lake, I had to double check my club book to make sure I hadn't got my dates mixed up and there was a match on. After confirming it was ok to fish as well as having a quick natter I decided to fish a swim on the left bank opposite the first island where I could see Carp moving about.

Set up was very similar to what I had used at Imberhorne, Korum Neoteric quiver rod with 2 oz tip, 8lb line and a 28g Guru x-safe elasticated method feeder with a size 14 barbless Preston Innovations 4" hair rig.

I was still hoping to land my first proper Tench of the season so I decided to use Van Den Eynde Expo as my method mix, Tench are renowned for having a sweet tooth and this bright red molasses groundbait seems to drive them crazy, for bait I was using double corn. With a gentle underarm lob I dropped the feeder within a foot of the island and tightened up so the tip was just slightly tensioned.

Action seemed to come in spells throughout the day as I would land three Carp in an hour and then nothing for the next two, by the time I packed up at 16:00 I had managed six Carp to 6lbs including a couple of Ghosties, a solitary Tench of 1.5lbs (finally!) and a Bream of 3lbs.

Another guy on the lake made the mistake of leaving his rod unattended and had it pulled in, he did manage to get it back but it took him over an hour of casting to retrieve it.

There are some pretty big lumps in Readers and whilst walking back to the car I had a chat with a guy who the previous week caught a 21lb Common from the very swim I had been fishing.